Strategic Culture, Securitisation and the Use of Force

Post-9/11 Security Practices of Liberal Democracies

Wilhelm Mirow

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781138925762
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317406600
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This book investigates, and explains, the extent to which different liberal democracies have resorted to the use of force since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The responses of democratic states throughout the world to the September 2001 terrorist attacks have varied greatly. This book analyses the various factors that had an impact on decisions on the use of force by governments of liberal democratic states. It seeks to explain differences in the security policies and practices of Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the UK regarding the war in Afghanistan, domestic counterterrorism measures and the Iraq War. To this end, the book combines the concepts of strategic culture and securitisation into a theoretical model that disentangles the individual structural and agential causes of the use of force by the state and sequentially analyses the impact of each causal component on the other. It argues that the norms of a strategic culture shape securitisation processes of different expressions, which then bring about distinct modes of the use of force in individual security policy decisions. While governments can also deviate from the constraints of a strategic culture, this is likely to encounter a strong reaction from large parts of the population which in turn can lead to a long-term change in strategic culture.

This book will be of much interest to students of strategic culture, securitisation, European politics, security studies and IR in general.

CSS Studies in Security and International Relations

Series Editor: Andreas Wenger

Center for Security Studies, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich

The CSS Studies in Security and International Relations series examines historical and contemporary aspects of security and conflict. The series provides a forum for new research based upon an expanded conception of security and will include monographs by the center’s research staff and associated academic partners.

War Plans and Alliances in the Cold War

Threat perceptions in the East and West

Edited by Vojtech Mastny, Sven Holtsmark and Andreas Wenger

Transforming NATO in the Cold War

Challenges beyond deterrence in the 1960s

Edited by Andreas Wenger, Christian Nuenlist and Anna Locher

US Foreign Policy and the War on Drugs

Displacing the cocaine and heroin industry

Cornelius Friesendorf

Cyber-Security and Threat Politics

US efforts to secure the Information Age

Myriam Dunn Cavelty

Securing ‘the Homeland’

Critical infrastructure, risk and (in)security

Edited by Myriam Dunn Cavelty and Kristian Søby Kristensen

Origins of the European Security System

The Helsinki Process revisited

Edited by Andreas Wenger, Vojtech Mastny and Christian Nuenlist

Russian Energy Power and Foreign Relations

Edited by Jeronim Perovic, Robert W. Orttung and Andreas Wenger

European-American Relations and the Middle East

From Suez to Iraq

Edited by Daniel Möckli and Victor Mauer

EU Foreign Policymaking and the Middle East Conflict

The Europeanization of national foreign policy

Patrick Müller

The Politics of Nuclear Non-Proliferation

A pragmatist framework for analysis

Ursula Jasper

Regional Organisations and Security

Conceptions and practices

Edited by Stephen Aris and Andreas Wenger

Peacekeeping in Africa

The evolving security architecture

Edited by Thierry Tardy and Marco Wyss

Russia’s Security Policy under Putin

A critical perspective

Aglaya Snetkov

Strategic Culture, Securitisation and the Use of Force

Post-9/11 security practices of liberal democracies

Wilhelm Mirow

Strategic Culture, Securitisation and the Use of Force

Post -9/11 security practices of liberal democracies

Wilhlem Mirow

First published 2016

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2016 Wilhelm Mirow

The right of Wilhelm Mirow to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Mirow, Wilhelm, author.

Title: Strategic culture, securitisation and the use of force : post-9/11 security practices of liberal democracies / Wilhelm Mirow.

Other titles: Strategic culture, securitization and the use of force

Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2016. | Series: CSS studies in security and international relations | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015043051| ISBN 9781138925762 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315683584 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Strategic culture. | Strategic culture–Case studies. | National security–Decision making. | National security–Decision making–Case studies. | War–Decision making. | War–Decision making–Case studies.

Classification: LCC U21.2 .M565 2016 | DDC 355/.0335–dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015043051

ISBN: 978-1-138-92576-2 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-68358-4 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781315683584

Typeset in Bembo

by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear

Contents

• List of figures
• List of tables
• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations
• Introduction
• PART I A comprehensive model of the use of force by the state
  • 1 Ontology and causation in international relations
  • 2 The theoretical model incorporating strategic culture and securitisation
  • 3 Operationalising the theoretical model
• PART II Comparing strategic cultures
  • 4 Formative moments, founding narratives and identity conceptions
  • 5 Comparative cross-country analysis
• PART III Comparin...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Frontmatter 1
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations
• Introduction
• PART I A comprehensive model of the use of force by the state
• PART II Comparing strategic cultures
• PART III Comparing decision processes on the use of force
• Appendix
• Index